Tire for vehicles



- TIRE FCR VEHICLES File@ 'May' 21, 1945 I'nventor Edgar C. Woods Patented Nov. 23, 1948 v,

ES 'lefllf-NTA 0F UNITED 2,454,750 FICE TIREFORvEHICI-ES `Edgar `Charles""Woovds, Grav'sendyEngland, assignor tofHcnleysTyre & Rubber Company, '.lfDarking, England, a British company l This invention relatestoti'res for vehicles "and deals with the formation of "the rubber tread, rubber being here used" to cover synthetic, substitute or natural rubber. The type of tread to which the invention relates is that in Awhich a part or the wholeofthe surface is formed by a circumferential line of isolated sections `which follow eachother insequence round the periphery. By isolatedf isfhere` `Ineant" thf`i t the body of rubber forming the sectionstands upabove .the directly adjacent `parts ofthe treadon all e' llaingis.l (01.152-4-209) sides. "A sequence of suchsections may, for "instance, beprovlded by a'rib dividedinto short lengths by transverse` grooves or slits "each extending to anfappropriate depth below the running surface, `usuallyvto the full depth `bywhich The words grooves and slits 'are' here rused to distinguish between parallel sided channels of different widths. i:The word slits indicates that the width is suclr that -undercompressiononthe road surface the opposite sideslof the channel are brought intocontact, `whereas groovesl indicates thatthe width is so'great thatthe eX- pansion of the rubber `underthat compression does not bring the sidesintocontact. 4 i

It is known that with this type of "tread formation considerable noise may be producedfby the impacts of the leading pointsor edges ofthe sections in rapid succession upon the roadk surface. It is thef'objectofjthe Vpresent invention to produce a form` of tread in whichthis capacity for producing lnoise is greatly lreduced while the need for 'dividing thefcircinnferential ribs Vinto separate elements inA order vto obtainA improved gripontheroadismetf- In describingthe improved tread it willbe assumed that the `cylindrical surface ofthe tire has been developed 'cna-plane 'so-that it'fwill be possible to speak ofy straight lines as denning portions of vthe tread, althoughin thev actual tire these lines will necessarily becurved, at least in oneplane. Y' 'u In the improved tread the isolated sections are arranged in sequence with uniform pitch (Theinvention will be further described by the aid of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several 4forms of treads embodying it.

Figure jl isa development on a flat surface shewing `one form of tread pattern in accordance with the invention;

Figure Zis a similar view of another form of pattern; and v i f. Figure 3 is Va diagram used in explanation of fthemanner in "which the invention can be applied to patterns having zig-zag or waved ribs.

As usual, each of the patterns shown in Figures 1l and 2 is symmetrical about the circumferential centre line l--I of the tire. In Figure 1 there, is a central continuous rib 2 and a continuous vrib 3 at each side. Between the rib 2 and each rib 3 are two straight ribs 4 which have been *divided into sections by transverse grooves "6 in "accordance with theinvention. The ribs [arefseparated fromeach other and from the ribs '2 and `3 by narrow circumferential grooves '5; The sub-division of the ribs 4 by transverse grooves 6 is carried out in such a way that the pitch of the sections is uniform. 'I'his pitch is shown by the distances l, which are distances between points located in the middle of the length and the middlerof the width of adjacent' transverse grooves E. The Widths of all of the grooves 5 lare the same throughout the periphery.

Each section 8 is a trapezoid having two parallel sides formed by the rsides of the rib and two"I non-parallel sides formed by the walls of transverse groovesl which grooves are inclined 'in the same sense, but at different angles to the circumferential centre line l-L The different 'angles are indicated by A and B and it will be and are separated from` eachother by straight transverse grooves or slits whichgmake different angles with the circumferential lcentral line of the tread. It is found that'it 'is not necessary to have a large number of different angles. Two

angles appropriately chosen-may sulticex-Ifhe distribution of the diierent=angles is,;however, so arranged that in all, or in a large proportion of-the sections, the angles atxth'e two ends of ay section are different. Thezresult of 'this 1arrangement is that, rWhile thepitch of the sections seen that in each lof the trapezcids 8 the differ- ;ence{` in angles exists and that as a result the circumferential distance between the leading corners of ,successive sections has two different values which occur alternately in proceeding along one of the yribs 4. Thesetwo values are indicated by the distances 9 and It, the distance 9 being `greater" than the pitch l and the distance l0 being less than the pitch 1. In the example i1- lus'trated, the angle A is 60 and the angle B is 'and with these values and the proportions shown the difference between the lengths 9 and Iliisabout7%.

In Figure V2 there are two undivided circumferential ribs il and l2 and four divided ribs i3. `As `compared `with Figure l there is the characteristic difference that the inclinations to the circumferential centre line l-l of the two nn-parallelsidesof the trapezoids 28 into 4'which the ribs i3 are sectionalized are in opposite lsenses instead of in the same sense. This has no effect on the relationship of the two lengths i4 land l5 -(which correspond to the lengths'land i0 cfFigure l) Yto the pitch 1. For the same dimensions of the sectionsV (i. e. pitch and width of sections and width of transverse 

